Pro Stock Pantera

What do you do with a 1200hp race car when you get tired of racing? You turn it into a show car. What do you do with a show car when you're bored with traveling the show circuit? You make it your daily driver. That's what Jerry Sackett did with his '73 Pantera. When he started racing it in 1979, it was a stock street car with mufflers and full interior. He did have a killer motor though. He went to Dyno Don Nicholson and had him build a pro stock motor. The first time it hit the strip, it turned 11 flat and 139 mph in the quarter mile.

Nicholson started with a 420-inch SVO motor then added C302 aluminum heads. In addition to extensive work done on the porting, he installed 1.85-inch stainless exhaust and 2.25-inch titanium intake valves. An LA billet crank, Carrillo rods, JE pistons and a Chet Herbert experimental roller cam completed the bottom end. Barry Grant built an 830cfm angular discharge carburetor that sits on top of a Roush NASCAR manifold Roush. At this initial stage, the engine was already pumping out 675 horsepower on the dyno.

Sackett didn’t want to the stop there, however. MSD built the ignition system that has a timing computer for the nitrous oxide. Because the engine runs such a heavy nitrous load, the computer retards the timing eight degrees from the normal 42 degrees advanced. Sackett plumbed the nitrous system himself, and on the juice, the engine now put out an extra 525 hp, for a whopping total of 1200 horses.

What’s it like to try and harness this much boost? "I took it out to the track, and when I hit the button, the car would go sideways so I could only use nitrous in fourth and fifth gear," Sackett says. "After that, I changed the ring and pinion in the transaxle to a 5.25 from the stock Pantera 4.22. That way it did not shock-load the trans so much. Taking off in first and second gear, it would lift the passenger side front wheel because the driver and gas tank are on the other side. It would tweak the body that hard. The uni-body has too much flex. I didn't want to fit a roll cage in that car because it would not stiffen it up enough. So I built a whole new car."

Sackett wanted to build a safer car, too, after a fellow racer was killed when his Pantera rolled. In 1983, he had a complete tube chassis built out of 4130 chromemoly. Greg Davis and a chassis builder at Victory Chassis came up with a cross between a NASCAR Cup car and a funny car. Over the top of the driver is a full cage like a funny car, while the perimeter chassis is strong enough to survive a rollover like a Winston Cup car. Using carbon fiber, Sackett constructed a body that is exactly the same as any '73 steel bodied Pantera. Anything that will bolt on a regular Pantera will bolt on this new car. The engine, transmission and suspension are all original Pantera, though modified.

The first time the new car ran was at Las Vegas Speedway. It was 110 degrees. It turned 9.90 seconds and 140 mph. Later, the car ran at Bakersfield and went through the traps at 172 mph maxed out in fifth gear at 7000 rpm. Sackett believes the car will run in the low eights, but he never has left the line with the motor turning more than 1500 rpm, because he figures it will break the ZF transaxle. "The car leaves the line at 1000 rpm so hard, it comes up on the wheel bar and you can see daylight under the back wheels," he says. "It rides the wheelie bar in each gear. I am afraid the car will tip over backwards and it would without the wheelie bar."

The suspension has stock Pantera pieces that were modified. The front runs a lot of caster and has a NASCAR adjustable rack to minimize bump steer, which tends to be a problem on Panteras, because the stock suspension changes the toe four degrees and the camber and caster a couple of degrees as it moves through its travel. The modified upper a-arms now allow for a lot more adjustment in the camber and caster. "Don Nicholson was always trying to get me to run a lot of caster," Sackett explains. "He said that a car with a lot of power handles better with a more caster. That was his trick to winning all his pro stock races with all his power."

The rear suspension is stock Pantera with aluminum A-arms and uprights. The RBT 25-2 ZF transaxle is standard Pantera. The four-wheel disc brakes are the old JFZ units (now Sierra Brakes). They are all four-piston calipers surrounding 13.5 x 1.25-inch vented rotors in front and 12.5 x 1.25-inch vented rotors in back. At all four corners there are PI Motorsports double-adjustable shocks, rebuildable, billet-aluminum coilovers with Heim joint ends and adjustable spring perches. The wheels and tires are a PI Motorsports package. The front wheels are 8 x 17 inches with 235/45R17 Michelin tires while the rears are 11 x 17s with 335/35R17 Michelin rubber.

Over the years, Sackett has changed the car in a number of ways. When other Pantera owners saw his car at the track or at shows, they wanted him to build them some of his special parts. About five years ago, he started PI Motorsports and began selling all the parts he developed. He now sell over 2000 different pieces for Panteras. In addition to a speed parts and accessories, his company offers a 550hp, 427ci small block made for the street. This $9400 mill is a bored and stroked 351 cubic inch Windsor with aluminum heads and a roller cam. Since Sackett’s Pantera is essentially a rolling billboard for this company, it turned out to be one heckuva of a tax write-off too. Who says you have to put business before pleasure?